1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to propellers; more particularly, this invention relates to propellers characterized as being operable in a weedy environment without becoming entangled therein.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Presently there exists many types of propellers each of which are designed for a particular purpose such as aircraft propulsion, watercraft propulsion and fluid mixing systems. In each instance, the design of the propeller is modified to provide optimal results. For example, in the watercraft industry, it is usually desirable to design the propeller such that the propeller produces a large amount of thrust per unit of power supplied to rotate the propeller. Unfortunately, while there presently exists many high performance propellers, these propellers are unsuitable for use when propelling the watercraft in a weedy environment due to the fact that large amounts of weeds become entangled about the propeller. The propeller then becomes entangled to such a degree that it becomes inoperable to further propel the watercraft thereby necessitating cleaning of the propeller to remove the weeds entangled thereabout. Under the worst operating conditions, it may be necessary to even remove the propeller in order to remove the individual weeds that become entangled about the drive shaft driving the propeller. Obviously, there exists a substantial need for a weedless propeller which is operable in a weedy environment and which is still able to produce a high amount of thrust per unit of energy supplied to the propeller for rotation thereof.
State-of-the-art techniques for producing a weedless propeller have only involved incorporating some type of a cage member forward of the propeller to deflect the weeds from the propeller in an attempt to prevent the weeds from encountering the blades of the propeller. Unfortunately, the weeds tend to accumulate on the forward surface of the cage member. Such accumulation builds up until the entire front surface of the cage member is covered with weeds. Waterflow is therefore substantially prevented from flowing through the cage member to the propeller. With a substantial reduction in the amount of waterflow flowing to the propeller, the thrust produced by the propeller is correspondingly substantially reduced. The cage member must therefore be lifted out of the water and cleaned to remove the accumulated weeds. Thus, it should be appreciated that such cage members merely increase the amount of weeds which may accumulate before cleaning is required. For these reasons, cage type devices have not been widely accepted by consumers.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus and method which overcomes the aforementioned inadequacies of the prior art devices and provides an improvement which is a significant contribution to the advancement of the weedless propeller art.
Another object of this invention is to provide a weedless propeller characterized as being operable in a weedy environment without becoming entangled within the weeds thereof.
Another object of this invention is to provide a weedless propeller which overcomes the disadvantages of cage type devices by eliminating other components which may themselves become entangled within the weeds.
Another object of this invention is to provide a weedless propeller which includes an integral design that may be manufactured as a single integral unit.
Another object of this invention is to provide a device which may be retrofitted to an existing propeller of conventional design to transform such propeller into a weedless propeller while maintaining the performance characteristics thereof.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner of modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description describing the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.